68
votes
If a person claims to know anything could it be disproven by saying 'prove that we are not in a simulation'?
The issue here, as it often is, is that colloquial English is horribly ambiguous, which makes any sort of precise and rigorous discussion difficult. But with sufficient effort, it is possible to make ...
- 1,273
26
votes
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
I would like to argue that the topic (especially the search for proof for it) is rather useless. With a search for evidence, this topic is very similar to the topic of the search for evidence that God ...
- 3,846
16
votes
Accepted
If we live in a simulated world, doesn't there have to be a first world that's real?
We can not carry the argument past the first step because if our physical laws are simulated then we know nothing about the "physics" of the world that does the simulating. In particular, it may make ...
- 42.5k
15
votes
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
I propose that we cannot know whether we are living in a simulation.
One of the ways to detect a simulation supposedly is to detect errors from the inside. But there is no reason whatsoever to ...
- 1,992
9
votes
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
To focus on the title of the question, there is rather little active research being done around this question, but I'll share what I know.
First is a paper from 2012, Constraints on the Universe as a ...
- 425
8
votes
Did David Deutsch really disprove the Simulation Hypothesis?
To be honest, I couldn't exactly follow your construction. But I can say that Deutsch is definitely not using an impossible scenario. He is actually adapting the Cantor Diagonalisation Argument which ...
8
votes
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
Of course it is possible that you are "living" in a simulation right now!
I'd say it is about 50% chance. we call it dreaming and it happens every night.
Well, you might say, that is pure ...
- 4,531
6
votes
If a person claims to know anything could it be disproven by saying 'prove that we are not in a simulation'?
Consider what the second person said:
You cannot prove that we are not in a simulation and that anything is real, hence you cannot prove that your claim was true.
This may be an example of an ...
- 19.2k
5
votes
Can it be shown that video games have in some way impacted philosophy or vice versa?
What I'm asking is what is the impact of video games on philosophy. Can I read somewhere about it?
I am simply posting some materials which may be useful.
Playing with Good and Evil: Video games and ...
- 861
5
votes
Did David Deutsch really disprove the Simulation Hypothesis?
Deutsch is restating some well known results in the theory of computation discovered by Godel and Turing. The result explains that not all functions can be calculated by a computer. This is not a ...
- 7,420
5
votes
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
We know a lot about simulations, and how they work. Lets look for some of those artifacts in the real world.
Simulations use code, which includes various types of numbers - integers, floats etc. ...
- 159
5
votes
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
Statistics
As soon as you establish that creating a simulated universe is possible it becomes more likely that you are within a simulated one.
Imagine someone creates a simulation of a town, an exact ...
- 544
5
votes
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
It is impossible for us to find evidence that we are living in a simulation. All computers that can perform more than a very minimal set of operations are universal computers. A universal computer can ...
- 7,420
5
votes
How does the 'Brain in a Vat Argument' differ from the 'Simulation Argument'?
One difference between the brain in a vat argument and the simulation argument is their motivations. The brain in a vat argument is motivated to support skepticism through doubting one's senses. The ...
- 19.2k
5
votes
Consciousness in Simulation theory & AI, why do some believe that it is even possible?
Nobody has ever found any credible evidence that the human brain is anything besides a very complicated computer running strange software. Nobody has ever found any credible evidence that humans are ...
- 813
4
votes
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
Nick Bostrum writes in “ARE YOU LIVING IN A COMPUTER SIMULATION?”
Suppose that these simulated people are conscious (as they would be if
the simulations were sufficiently fine‐grained and if a ...
- 19.2k
4
votes
How does the 'Brain in a Vat Argument' differ from the 'Simulation Argument'?
There is indeed a fundamental difference.
The Brain-in-a-vat seems within the reach of even human technology. In other words, it is a highly convincing and realistic scenario. A brain in a vat would ...
- 6,241
4
votes
If a person claims to know anything could it be disproven by saying 'prove that we are not in a simulation'?
No, that argument is not logically correct because knowledge need not be absolute, but can be relative. To know the sky is blue means to connect the perception of the atmosphere that we call the sky ...
- 1,154
4
votes
Consciousness in Simulation theory & AI, why do some believe that it is even possible?
Materialism perspective
One of the arguments for the possibility of simulated minds comes from the assumption that in general, physics can be simulated. If all physics can be simulated, then it must ...
- 1,269
4
votes
Accepted
Simulation Hypothesis - trivial objection - what is the response?
In his original paper on the simulation argument Bostrom stated his main claim in terms of a collection of three different propositions:
This paper argues that at least one of the following ...
- 2,837
3
votes
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
Suppose that what we call this reality is a simulation. Then by analogy, it is plausible that within this reality we can build machines that contain simulations. Also by analogy one can infer that it ...
- 3,281
3
votes
If we live in a simulated world, doesn't there have to be a first world that's real?
Also... as far as the Simulation Argument, you have to ask "what difference would it make?". If we're simulated, what would be different from if we're real? How would it affect things?
If it would ...
- 140
3
votes
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
I'd argue there are, at least, 3 good identifiers that we're in a digital simulation:
That there are globally applicable physical laws i.e. the simulation is algorithmic
That there's a limit to the ...
- 1,808
3
votes
Accepted
Are we living in a simulation? The evidence
I am a bit surprised by the hostility to the concept of this question, given that it is a classic problem restated by nearly every serious philosopher. If your stance is, 'I don't want to think about ...
- 20.5k
3
votes
Accepted
Does Bostrom's simulation argument make sense?
You have almost answered your first question in your reply to Eliran: we make that assumption for the sake of argument, and some of us are interested in the argument because it seems, at least at ...
- 165
3
votes
If a person claims to know anything could it be disproven by saying 'prove that we are not in a simulation'?
This is basically equivalent to solipsism, the idea that the only thing you can be sure really exists is yourself, and everything else could be just a figment of your imagination.
It's fundamentally ...
- 231
3
votes
Simulation argument: is "leaf reality" is most probable?
In my opinion it's a bad argument for the following reason.
The argument always starts along the lines of, "In 1980 we had Pong and today we have massive multiplayer games and therefore in the ...
- 2,890
3
votes
Consciousness in Simulation theory & AI, why do some believe that it is even possible?
Saying that consciousness is not possible in a simulated being has strange consequences as well. Suppose that we create a simulation that is very much like a human being. Say, we do your case 2 on ...
- 2,490
3
votes
Consciousness in Simulation theory & AI, why do some believe that it is even possible?
What is consciousness?
There isn't a commonly accepted definition of consciousness (that I'm aware of).
This lack of a precise definition presents the first and biggest problem in providing a concrete ...
- 5,522
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